Rapid bus line a waste, community leaders say

NORTH PARK  Opposition is growing against a proposed $43 million rapid bus line projected to trim commute times through the Mid-City area.

Members of the North Park Planning Committee voted 11-1 against the project Tuesday, asserting that the neighborhood deserved cleaner, more-efficient technology for the San Diego State-to-downtown route. Members of another planning group aren’t enthused about the proposal, either.

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“I am totally in favor of viable mass transit. We have to have it,” North Park Planning Committee member Cheryl Dye said. “But, doing something that isn’t future-oriented, I would have to disagree with that.”

Colleague Judi O’Boyle called on transportation planners to bring forward innovative solutions to accommodate 16,000 daily passengers projected to use the route.

“Let’s look to something that’s not going to interfere with traffic lanes and doesn’t use gasoline,” she said. “That’s the future.”

The bus line would be funded through the half-cent, voter-approved TransNet tax and federal grants. It calls for new compressed natural gas buses, traffic signals and transit stations. Buses would travel through retimed traffic lights on El Cajon Boulevard, down Park Boulevard and terminate downtown near the Santa Fe Depot.

“The most common answer that we get from most people is that public transit is too slow. If you want to attract more people to transit you have to make it faster,” said Miriam Kirshner, a senior planner for the San Diego Association of Governments. “That’s what this project is trying to do.”

Earlier plans for rapid buses and dedicated lanes were rejected in Bankers Hill and Hillcrest because of traffic concerns, said Uptown Planners Chairman Leo Wilson, whose board will weigh in on the latest proposal Oct. 5.

“With this project we’re looking at, according to environmental documents, saving all of nine minutes on the whole route,” he said “That’s $4.7 million per saved minute. Who are they trying to kid?”

Kirshner acknowledged that a trolley through Uptown San Diego, North Park, City Heights and the College Area would be faster and could provide better service. But that would cost an estimated $60 million to $90 million per mile, topping out at $600 million to $1 billion, Kirshner said.

With the bus line, riders would board at several redesigned stations and make fewer stops along the proposed route. New buses on a half-mile segment between El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue would use transit-only lanes to avoid road congestion.

Much of the consternation from residents and business owners stems from the dedicated bus lanes and transit stations in the center of Park Boulevard. While others have expressed frustration with plans to possibly close off Polk Avenue to motorists.

The reconfigurations would result in a loss of 35 parking spaces, 23 of which would be replaced along side streets. The parking changes will go before the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee on Oct. 6.